Castlelaw
The remains of Castlelaw Hillfort (also known as Castle Law) and its basement (also called Earth House), which was used in the Iron Age for around 700 years, are located on the flank of Castle Law Hill, south of Edinburgh and north of Penicuik in Midlothian in the southern Pentland Hills Regional Park in Scotland . Not to be confused with Castlelaw at Abernethy in Perth and Kinross .
The Hillfort, located at a height of about 300 m and measuring about 80 × 35 m inside, was built in the middle of the 1st millennium BC as an enclosure surrounded by a palisade, which was later replaced by a wall with a Murus Gallicus . A concentric double wall with trenches was added during Roman times (around 80 AD). The walls are best preserved on the north side. However, there is no evidence that Castle Law was ever attacked.
The basement
In the case of basements, a basic distinction is made between "rock-cut", "earth-cut", "stone built" and "mixed" basements. A stone-built basement, about 20 m long in 1933 ( Vere Gordon Childe ) and in 1952, was built into the inner trench . It follows the old moat and is preserved up to a height of two meters. In the middle between two orthostats there is an access to a large, round beehive-like chamber with a cantilever vault only partially preserved . The best parallels between this chamber shape, which is atypical for the group, are the basement of West Grange of Conan and the basement of Tigh Talamhain on Skye in Scotland .
The ceiling over the main corridor was probably made of wood and was replaced by a concrete ceiling (with windows) during the reconstruction. Artifacts found in the basement include a brooch, glass, and pottery of Roman origin from the 2nd century.
See also
literature
- Anna Ritchie, Graham Ritchie : Scotland. Archeology and Early History (= Ancient peoples and places . 99). Thames and Hudson Ltd., London 1981, ISBN 0-50002-100-7 .
Web links
Coordinates: 55 ° 51 ′ 42.5 ″ N , 3 ° 14 ′ 0 ″ W.